A Letter From the Front
by yellow 14
Summary: Set after the mission Breaking The Siege. Breaking The Siege Breaking The Siege. Maiwen Wyvyrn-Gifre writes a letter home about her experiences on the front.


Disclaimer: Don't own and never will

AN: This one was inspired by me replaying the game.

 _Dear Mother and Father,_

Maiwen Wyvyrn-Gifre paused for a moment, unsure how to continue. How did one describe...well pretty much anything that had happened since she had arrived? She dipped her quill into her inkpot and began to write once more.

 _It's been several days since we arrived in Mel Senshir and broke the siege there. From there, we've been steadily probing and fighting our way through Klurikon._

She paused and frowned. It sounded so dry when written like that, so...dead. (She gave a shudder at that last word. She had seen plenty of death since coming to this gods-forsaken place)

 _I am happy to tell you that when I fought the Tuatha, I did not let down the honour of the Wyvym-Gifre name and I have been awarded the Mitharu Star for my conduct_

Maiwen almost snorted at that. She had no idea why she was being given a medal, she had been terrified the whole time. In fact, she was surprised she hadn't frozen on the spot. A warm trickle of urine that had run down her leg during the battle. Now that was a more accurate portrayal of her courage than a shiny medal. She shook herself. It had only happened the once. Now she was just to scared to let it go.

 _I've made a few new friends as well. There's a man named Rhunir Wesnon, a young Dokkalfar from a place called the Wending. He told me that he's never been outside of Rathir before joining the army. Imagine that! Never going on holiday or travelling beyond the city walls...joining the army has helped me see the world from a different perspective. I've seen things that I would never have seen otherwise._

Bile rose in her throat as she recalled some of the things she had seen, some of the things that haunted her nightmares. Reading about creatures like Murghans and Crudoks seemed so much safer, less scary, more thrilling between the pages of a book. She paused and thought for a moment. It had only been a few weeks ago that she had been just a child eager for adventure. It felt like years.

 _The war in Klurikon is different from the one I expected. There's a world of difference between the exciting adventures on the page and the ones out here. The heroes in my books never seemed to need to do the basic things like dig latrines or set up tents._

She resisted the urge to chuckle at the memory of her first time digging a latrine and her disgust at filling it up afterwards. Nobility liked to think they were above such things. That's what servants were for after all. She used to think so too. (At least until her sergeant had made it crystal clear that yes it WAS her responsibility and no she was not getting out of it in any way, shape or form!) Now she did it without a second thought.

 _From what I've been told, moral is better than it's ever been. We're on the offensive for the first time in many years. The siege is broken and the Tuatha are retreating._

She paused and frowned. She had already mentioned that the siege was broken, hadn't she? She shrugged her shoulders and continued.

 _The Tuatha are fearsome fighters, resisting us at every step. They know this terrain and how to use it. The roads are rough and overgrown, little more than dirt tracks for the most part. The Tuatha, it seems, don't suffer from the same problems as we do when it comes to travel. Or maybe it's just fey magic at work. For all I know, they could find this easier._

Maiwen's concentration was broken by a loud snore from her sleeping companion, a chubby blond Alfar woman who's name she could not recall. She should be sleeping too really, but she needed to finish this letter.

 _Then there are the old veterans who remember General Tilera's campaign. Some of them think that this is going to end the same way, namely badly. The Tuatha will summon up another beast or monster or something._

She frowned as she recalled the words of the cynical Ljosalfar sergeant who had addressed them a few days earlier.

"Don't get too comfortable out here. We'll be driven back just like we were with Tilera!" he bellowed at them before being dragged away.

 _But now there's hope. A new hero has emerged. Whispers and rumours surround them. These rumours contradict one another a lot of the time. Like, some say that the hero is a man, others a woman. And every faction in the world except the Tuatha claim that they're a member. They can't even decide what species the hero is._

Maiwen frowned. She had met the hero everyone talked about, hadn't she? The person who had delivered her conscription letter to her home. At least, she thought it was them.

Then again, she had been so happy to receive her notice that she could hardly recall anything about them. They could have been a Tuatha and she probably wouldn't have noticed, if she was honest with herself.

 _I saw them slay the Balor though. That was a feat of legend. The stories about the creature's size and power and the fear it inspired never did it justice. But they faced up to the creature and brought it down like it was nothing._

She allowed her mind to wander back to that battle. She had been fighting on the ground, her regiment surrounded by the Tuatha. The ground was slippery with the blood of Tuatha and mortal alike, their corpses all around. They were going to all die there or so it seemed.

Then, on the far side of the walls, there was a flash of light and the Balor roared it's last. The creature fell and the Tuatha fled. All semblance of an organised army fell as, for the first time in a long time, the Tuatha panicked.

 _You should have seen it. Words cannot do it justice. Seeing the seemingly invincible monster fall and the Tuatha running in fear was...even now, I can hardly credit my senses._

 _We just stood there, hardly daring to believe what we were seeing. For years, the Tuatha had seemed invincible. Some of the veterans tell me that they had despaired of ever seeing a victory._

She yawned, her eyes beginning to feel heavy. It was time to sleep really. She had a patrol in the morning. Dipping her quill into her inkpot once more, she put pen to paper.

 _The days are long and tiring, but I know that what we are doing here is right._

 _Yours sincerely_

 _Maiwen Wyvyrn-Gifre_


End file.
